ENERGY BOOMER

SAVE MONEY BY TAKING IT EASY ON YOUR THERMOSTAT

You waste money by pushing harder on a thermostat. Your car has an accelerator pedal, the more you push it, the faster you go. The thermostat in your house does not work that way. Thermostats are an on off switch that you set for the temperature you want.

Setting your thermostat extra low will not cool your house faster.

Your air conditioner is a two-speed device. Either it is on, or it is off. It is either running, and removing heat from your home as fast as it can, or it is off. There is no in between.

Two things determine the speed that your house cools down:

1.    The capacity rating of your air conditioner

2.    How fast outdoor heat gets into the house

The capacity of your air conditioner to remove heat is locked it when it was built. The speed of heat flowing into your house is determined by the amount of sunshine hitting the house, the outdoor temperature, wind and the physical condition of the house.

Setting the thermostat at 60 when you really want the house to be 75 degrees does not help anything.

If you want to speed up how fast your house cools off, there are some things you can do.

If you are doing the right thing and shutting your air conditioner off when no one is home you will want the house to cool down as fast as possible when your return home.

The best investment you can make is to slow down the heat that is coming in. Use awnings, storm doors, storm windows, solar screens, more insulation and radiant barriers to slow down or block heat from getting in. All of these will reduce your electric bill.

The waste fully expensive answer is to add an additional air conditioner. A window unit or split unit are the easiest to add. Just be prepared for bigger electric bills. A second AC adds cooling capacity to your system, but you pay for it up both front and every month when the bills arrive.

How about giving you AC a head start.

A low cost answer is to use a digital thermostat that you can program to turn on the AC before you return home. That way, when you walk in the door, the house is already cool for you to enjoy.

You may need to experiment a little to find out how early to have the AC switch on. Ideally, it is just getting into your comfort zone when you get home.

That way you can shut the AC off when no one is home, to save money, and still have a comfortable home when you get there.

I look forward to the day when folks can use their cell phone or computer to dial up their home or office thermostat when they start their commute. For folks who do not have a set schedule, they could “talk” to their thermostat and set it up or down depending on the situation. That way their home or office would be ready to welcome them in comfort.

The technology is ready we just need to connect the dots to make it work.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click on the image to get your copy of the Special Report: How to Save Money on Air Conditioning.

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WHAT TEMPERATURE SHOULD I SET ON MY THERMOSTAT?

One on the most frequently question I get is what temperature do I recommend for setting home thermostats.

Folks are surprised to learn that we set our home thermostat based only on our comfort. We do not rely on energy savings calculations. Fortunately, our preference is easy on my checkbook in the winter.

During the heating season

Our home thermostat is set at 68 F when we are up and about and 62 at night. I turn the thermostatdown a couple hours before bedtime so the house will start to cool down.

Some folks will think that 62 is too cold. We use an electric blanket, a regular blanket and one of my wife’s homemade quilts to keep warm.

The electric blanket is only used to preheat the bed. We are warm even on the coldest northern winter nights. Those temperature settings are what we want regardless of the energy savings.

I do not use the program function on our digital thermostat because we have a very irregular schedule. When no one is home, I manually set it back to about 60. (The recommendation is to set it back about 10 degrees.)

I would like to use the thermostat program to pre-heat the house before our return, but I don’t. I wish I could call my thermostat on my cell phone and have it turn the heat up while we are driving home. May be one of you tech savvy folks can invent that one for me.

During the hot weather season

I hate hot weather. My wife hates hot weather. We are true northerners and are uncomfortable when the thermometer goes above 75. For us high humidity just multiplies our discomfort.

During the day, I set the thermostat at 78 degrees. The next time I check it is reading 76. I do not know how that happens, especially when I am the only one home.

We try to keep it at 78 during the day and 74 at night. 78 works fine as long as we keep the air moving with fans. Ceiling fans make a big improvement in our comfort.

When the electric bill hits our mailbox, I quickly turn the thermostat up to 78 where the engineer in me says it should be. Some how the setting drifts down to 76 pretty quickly.

We want the windows open anytime the outdoor temperature sinks below 75. The problem with that is open windows invites the humidity back into the house.

Our favorite way of dealing with the heat is to turn our home air conditioner off. Then get in the air-conditioned car and drive north until we reach some cooler weather at the shore of one of the Great Lakes.

At work during the heating season

My recommendation is 66 for factory floor areas and 69 in the offices. People can adjust the number of layers of clothing that they wear to be comfortable with their level of activity.

At work during the hot season

My recommendation for air-conditioned offices and other areas is to target 78 degrees. My productivity suffers if the temperature goes above 78.

I would like to know what your favorite thermostat settings are.

Please leave a comment and let others know how you set your thermostat for during air conditioning season.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

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DOES TURNING THE THERMOSTAT DOWN REALLY SAVE?

Can you save real money by turning the thermostat down?

One of the gas company adds that I heard recently said that for every degree that you lower the thermostat below 72 you will save 3% on your heating bill.

That means that if you set your thermostat no higher than 70 degrees you will pay 6% less than you would if you set it at 72.

You save 12% by setting your thermostat no higher than 68. And that is with out turning it down more while you are sleeping.

Yes, you can save even more by turning the thermostat down when no one is home. If your house is empty during the work or school day, turn the thermostat down so you heat less. If you go away on the weekend, turning the thermostat down will save you money. In our house, we are most comfortable with 68 during the day and 62 at night.

Many people have gotten into the habit of only wearing one layer of clothes when they are at home. Folks used to wear sweaters or a vest more than they do now. One additional layer of clothing can make a big difference in comfort when the weather outside is cold.

Some folks choose to pay a little more by heating their house into the 70s for short periods of time when everyone is home and awake. They make up for the extra warmth by turning their thermostat down every chance they can. This works well if your house warms up quickly like most modern homes do.

Remember turning the heat down helps us keep our cash and reduces the green house gases that go into the air by saving fuel.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click on the image to get your copy of the Special Report: How to Save Money on Air Conditioning.

Related Posts:

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WHAT TEMPERATURE SHOULD I SET ON MY THERMOSTAT?

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UPGRADE YOUR THERMOSTAT

The most effective way to reduce your heating bill at home is to heat less. Sounds simple but we all like to be warm in the wintertime. How can we heat less and keep warm?

One way to heat less is to avoid heating rooms that are not being used. If you have a spare bed room that is only used for storage you can shut off the heat going to that room and close the door.

You may be able to reduce the heat in some rooms that are used only for short periods of time. Try closing the louvers on the warm air outlet to reduce the amount of heat that you let into the room.

Another way to heat less is to turn the thermostat down when no one is home. If your house is empty during the work or school day, turn the thermostat down 10 or more degrees so you heat less. If you go visit the grand kids on the weekend turn the thermostat down so you heat less.

If you have one of the modern digital thermostats, you can program it to preheat the house. With a little planning ahead your house can be warmed up and ready to welcome you home. A good programmable thermostat can be bought for under $100 at your favorite home supply mega store. Last fall I bought a cheap model on sale for $20 that works just fine.

In our house, the thermostat is set at 68 during the day and 62 at night. That is cooler than some folks like, but we like it that way. Using a programmable thermostat makes setting the temperature down at night easy and you do not have to worry about forgetting. We program ours to automatically warm up the house before we get up in the morning.

Remember heat less by keeping the thermostat low. Turn it down when no one is home. Turn it way down when your mother in law visits. To get the feel of being there turn it down during TV football games. Just turn it down and buy a new sweater with the money you save.

It is cheaper to use an extra quilt or an electric blanket and turn the thermostat down even more at bedtime. Or get two dogs. I sleep better when it is cool in the house.

At work, the thermostats should be set for no more than 68 degrees on the shop floor. Offices and team rooms should be set for no more than 71. It is OK to set them lower and save more. The temperature should be lower in storage areas where people just go in and right back out.

Remember heat less and save more.

Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL

Click on the image to get your copy of the Special Report: How to Save Money on Air Conditioning.

Related Posts:

WHAT TEMPERATURE SHOULD I SET ON MY THERMOSTAT?

NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT ON HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING.

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